


Homesick

by CrystalisedWarrior



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, If You Squint - Freeform, rintori - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2334368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalisedWarrior/pseuds/CrystalisedWarrior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Weekends at Samezuka Academy always appear lonely to Nitori Aiichirou, who cannot help but to wonder why his roommate never seems to visit his family.<br/>Naturally Rin is not fond of the question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homesick

The dorms of Samezuka Academy usually seemed to get a boost of activity the exact moment classes ended each Friday afternoon.  
There always were students bustling about, some music or voices to be heard, muffled by the closed doors, or people meeting up outside on the school's grounds but whenever the weekends started the atmosphere changed to a more uplifted, happy mood.  
Most of the boys who lived in the dorms decided to spend those days with their families and friends in their hometowns, leaving behind the small rooms they called home during the week.  
Naturally you could hear students saying goodbye to each other, seeing off their roommates and friends as well as a few parents actually coming to pick up their offspring.  
You could see a lot of teenagers dragging themselves over the halls and grounds, happy to leave for even a small amount of time.  
Of course not everyone left. A great deal of the student body stayed behind, either because they had different plans or their families lived too far away.  
For those students the added activity was simply an indicator for the silence that would follow and not leave until at least one and a half days later.  
Saturdays had some of the students who lived close-by leaving quietly in the mornings but after that it always felt eerily quiet within the dorm's halls.  
At least to Nitori Aiichirou.

It was a reoccurring feeling to him.  
Most Fridays he spent an hour of his time just watching his schoolmates leaving to be with their loved ones from his room, simply looking out of the window.  
He did not get any work done directly after classes either way so he often found himself sitting on his bunk bed or on his desk, reading some book and looking up every so often to see them heading for the gates.  
When he left for dinner those days he always felt a bit heavier than usual.  
Aiichirou would not let it show on his face, of course, but the lack of students and the increased silence it brought with it left him in a state of nostalgia and longing.

Over the course of the school year he had never once seen his own roommate leaving for the weekend. Rin did not stay at the dorms all the time but he never left completely as well.  
At first he had thought nothing of it. It was nothing unusual for children to stay at the academy if their parents lived further away and a weekend trip was not worth the trouble.  
But then he had found out about his senpai's family living only a few towns away.  
If he chose to the older swimmer was able to stop by for dinner and return to the dorms before curfew without breaking a sweat.  
That was when he began wondering.  
Obviously he did not know about all of Rin's activities but not once did he mention visiting home or at least meeting up with them for lunch or just a simple walk around the city and some talking.  
The grey haired teen also never overheard him talking to them on his phone.  
In fact if he had not asked about it once it was like Rin did not even have any family.  
As admirable as he thought Rin to be these things put him off. 

Looking up from his book after finishing the chapter he had started during lunch break that day, Aiichirou caught himself staring out the window once more. Absently he folded a dog ear into the page he was on, closing the paperback book.  
His eyes followed the dots and blobs moving around, some dragging small luggage behind them.  
Stretching his legs out on his bed he let out a small sigh just as he could hear the door to his shared room opening.  
“Ah, welcome back, Matsuoka-senpai!”, he chimed, smiling brightly at the boy who just had entered the room, proceeding to throw his bag on the bottom bed. He could see the guy from the room right next to theirs walking down the hall, a bag slung over his shoulder. Another one leaving until Sunday evening.  
All he got in return from the new arrival was a 'Hm.' until the door had fallen shut once more.  
Rin proceeded to remove his jacket and put it over one of their stools before facing him.  
The boy could comfortably hold eye contact with Aiichirou even if he lay on his bed, like at the moment.  
The smaller always admired tall people. Not that he minded being smaller awfully much but it had served as the punchline for more than one joke during his lifetime.  
“Not leaving again this week?”, came the question. No long winded thank you, how was your day, mine was fine. That was not like Rin and probably would have confused him more than he would have enjoyed the smalltalk.  
“Nope. Might do next month, though. We'll have a long weekend, right?”, he happily explained.  
He did not mind talking about it, but thinking about it left him slightly less cheerful every time the topic came up – and he really hoped it did not show on his face or in his posture.  
There already was enough people thought to be timid and fragile about him and he felt no need to add another point to it.  
The room settled into comfortable silence once more with Rin simply nodding and fishing out some papers from his bag, before sitting down at his desk.  
However, he shot Aiichirou an annoyed glance when he noticed the state of the second desk, silently reminding the boy to start being less chaotic. His reaction was a sheepish grin.

The silence was once more broken several minutes later with Ai shuffling on his bed, growing more bored by the minute.  
Watching everyone else leave did not lift his mood at all so he needed something else to do.  
It did make him think, though.  
“Can you keep it down a bit?”, Rin's voice snarled at him.  
Confusion written all over his face he stared at his roommate, the question evident on his face.  
“You keep sighing. It's distracting.”  
“Oh.”  
Obviously he had been caught up in his own thoughts too deep to even realise he was making any noise. “I am sorry.”  
The other simply shrugged and focused on his work once more.  
“Hey, senpai?”, he let his voice break through the air shortly afterwards.  
Leaning over the bars on his bed, he could look straight at Rin's backside, still hunched over the desk.  
It was a mystery to him how he could do his homework just when he had returned.  
The other boy did not turn around fully, merely craned his neck and slightly twisted his upper body, but he let his pen fall from his hold. That was more than enough attention for Aiichirou.  
“What's it, Nitori?”

Biting his lower lip in insecurity the boy in question sighed once more.  
“Your family lives in Iwatobi, right?”, he let out the question that had him bothering the last few minutes.  
Rin raised one of his eyebrows, unsure of the nature behind the seemingly random question.  
“Yeah. What does it matter, though?”  
Having moved to the ladder of his bed, Aiichirou shyly touched the back of his head, laughing uncomfortably.  
“I've just been wondering”, he started before climbing down the ladder.  
He could feel this was not going to go over well. Or maybe that was just his general fear of messing up.  
When he reached the floor he shuffled to the window, hoisting himself up onto the windowsill.  
Mustering up the remaining courage he had stored somewhere within himself, he looked at Rin, who had turned around to face him at his new spot.  
“Why do you never seem to visit them?”  
The moment the question had left his throat he regretted it. His senpai visibly tensed, something in his eyes changing.  
Nitori Aiichirou was sure he had made a mistake.  
“I just don't. Don't act like it's mandatory!”, the redhead snapped, turning to tend to his homework immediately.  
“Sorry.”, the boy apologised for the second time, dangling his legs slightly.

He could not hear Rin picking up his work even after a few minutes of staring at his knees.  
Looking up he saw Rin had indeed not started to work. In fact he had not even picked up his pen, but simply had his fist balled and stared straight ahead.  
Ai was just about to crawl back onto his bed and continue reading as he saw Rin turning to him out of the corner of his eye.  
His fear was confirmed by this simple movement. Rin was not done with the conversation yet and he was angry. And he was the one who caused it.  
Of course he had noticed. He knew his senpai had his own problems he was dealing with.  
Rin Matsuoka had a lot he was not willing to share but it seemed to cause him a lot of stress and anxiety. Everyone who spent enough time with him could guess that. Additionally Ai had spent enough time just observing his roommate.  
The boy also had learned that once Rin felt attacked in any form he would not let it slide easily.  
Exactly this seemed to be the case.

“And just for the record there are many people not visiting their families. It's also none of your business!”, he lashed out, apparently having thought about Ai's statement.  
Before he knew what was happening Rin had left his seat and was now standing right in front of Aiichirou.  
Even during a moment like this he had to notice how well trained Rin was. He was fast.  
Considering he went to train nearly every single day it did not surprise Aiichirou too much.  
Still, he admired it. Admired how strong and determined Rin was.  
“It totally is my own decision to stay here and not see them. I mean, I do see them just not every weekend like most of the idiots here!  
Who says I have to be with my family in the first place? I did not know there was such a rule, Nitori!”  
With each word Ai seemed to shrink in on himself, pulling his knees close to his body in the process.  
He should have known it was a sensitive topic for Rin and he should not have brought it up.  
After the time he had spent living with him he was aware of the fact that Rin lashed out in anger when he got upset.  
Of course, he did not mean it. He did not want to hurt people intentionally. It was simply his coping mechanism, in an attempt to shield himself from possible pain.  
Or at least that was what Aiichirou had figured.  
“I'm sorry, senpai. I did not mean it”, he squeaked out, a lot more silent than before.  
“Why do you even ask stupid questions like that?”  
Within their room there was not too much space but Rin still managed to pace around it, aggravated for some reason his younger roommate was unaware of.

“It's just that I can't see my family even if I want to”, came the murmured answer.  
The mood instantly shifted.  
Both boys halted and held their breath. Aiichirou realised he actually had spoken his thoughts out loud, which he never intended to.  
Rin on the other hand suddenly knew exactly why the question had arisen. He hated to admit to it but he did overreact and he did feel bad for shouting at the smaller kid.  
Within the first few weeks of living with him Nitori had told him how his parents actually lived quite a distance away. They had not lived as far away when he was younger but had moved recently, making it pointless to visit for just a short weekend.  
“Sorry.”  
He turned to face the teen, who still hugged his knees to his petite body, shaking his head, some longer strands of hair falling into his view.  
“Don't. You did nothing wrong.”, Rin said firmly, the rage gone from his voice.  
It was a mystery to him why but Aiichirou seemed to take this as his queue to explain himself, explain where the question had come from in the first place.  
“I just wish I could see them more often”, he sobbed quietly. Rin felt like he was supposed to check if he was crying but decided against it.  
“You know they are quite far away and I can't really talk to them on the phone often and I just miss them. I know it's childish.”  
It was unlikely for Ai to see him shake his head, but he did it anyway.  
“You probably think I'm so dumb for it but I'm so jealous, because you can go and see your family whenever you want to.  
But then you don't seem to care at all and I can't understand that and I wish it would not miss them this much but I do and… I am sorry.”  
Aiichirou had started to look up from his curled in position towards the end of his moment of truth.  
It was a habit of his, apologising if he found himself babbling like this. Rin did not seem to like his endless talks.  
“I told you to not say sorry.”

Another of his habits was trying not to have anyone see his weak moments. This counted as a weak moment.  
He straightened himself, wiping at his eyes for good measure and started smiling.  
“Ah, that was silly of me.”  
The lack of something to occupy him and the usual pang of sadness he felt from watching everyone leave for home had made him slip up and he had annoyed his flatmate with his useless babbling about his stupid feelings.  
It was weak. Ai felt not only physically weak but also mentally thanks to situations like these.  
He hated it.  
Rin on the other hand blinked in confusion. “What's wrong now?”  
The entire way the boy held himself had changed from making himself small and nearly oozing sadness to his usual smiley-faced, boyish image. It felt odd.  
“Everything is fine, senpai! I am sorry for keeping you from your homework. It really was a dumb thought, wasn't it?”, Nitori beamed at him.  
The confusion in Rin only spread further, settling in his stomach. For the first time he could remember the cheery vibe felt out of place and he disliked it a lot.  
“What is up with you all of a sudden? You were close to crying just now and yet here you are grinning like nothing happened!”  
Noticing the growing agitation within his roommate, Nitori blinked at him a few times, like he always did, and followed it with a small laugh.  
“I was not crying. I'm fine, senpai! Thank you for caring.”  
“How do you expect anyone to understand you, much less help you, if you go and have these weird mood swings! You can't just go around accusing people of things and suddenly be all depressed about it only to act like nothing happened a second later!”, Rin started before Ai had even finished with his sentence.  
Aiichirou should have seen it coming, should have known Rin's anger was only temporarily forgotten and could rise up within seconds.  
He had dealt with these kinds of reactions before, had witnessed them happening from afar as well.  
Somehow, he was sure, he could have prevented it but he did not and so all he could do now was watch Rin grab for his jacket and leave the room with an exaggerated growl.  
“This entire discussion is bullshit.”, was the last thing he heard before the door of their room fell shut with a bang.  
It took him barely a second before he had his knees pulled up to his body and his face hidden again. 

For Rin to flee from something he could not – or simply did not want to – deal with and being gone for hours on end when he was angry was nothing new.  
Aiichirou had witnessed it before, had been the reason for his teammate's disappearance even. He was sure, though, he had never been this mad. Not with him around.  
As a result he was not surprised to still be on his own in the small room when the sun started to set, slowly draining it of any light.  
By the time he decided to go to bed his tears had dried and his mood considerably lightened.  
He wasn't happy, still too caught up in having a fight with Rin, as well as missing home, but he did not feel as sad anymore.

When he woke up again, Ai was greeted by the sight of Rin sitting at his desk, scribbling away at some paper.  
As silently as he could he sat up and rubbed his eyes, still heavy from sleep. He did not want to disturb the other in case Rin was concentrating on homework, especially after having caused him to be mad the day prior.  
The scratching of Rin's pen against the paper and the occasional groan was everything that filled the room for a few moment, before Aiichirou pushed the warm blankets away from himself, preparing to climb down the ladder to begin his day.  
“Morning.”  
By the sound of it Rin seemed to be a lot calmer and in a good mood this day. Smiling the younger boy turned around, still halfway on the ladder.  
“Good Morning. Sorry for disturbing you.” All he got in return was a head shake and a sigh.  
Just as he was about to enter their bathroom, Rin spoke up once more.  
“Remember the festival in Iwatobi Mikoshiba mentioned? We're going.”  
It was a simple statement. Much less an invite than a set plan, but Aiichirou did not mind.  
A smile spread across his face, brightening his entire day.  
“Yes, Senpai!”  
All of a sudden he did not feel too sad about yesterday anymore. Maybe, staying at the dorms and having Rin stay as well was not as bad.  
At least, he felt at home within these walls as well.


End file.
